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Photos: Afghan Women Are Protesting For Their Rights

Women gather to demand their rights under the Taliban rule during a protest in Kabul on Sept. 3.
Wali Sabawoon
/
AP
Women gather to demand their rights under the Taliban rule during a protest in Kabul on Sept. 3.

Day after day this month, Afghan women have taken to the streets in groups large and small to protest against Taliban rule, the regime's new curbs on their rights and Pakistan's influence in Afghanistan. "We want equal rights, we want women in government," women chanted in Kabul this week. Others shouted and held up signs for azadi, or freedom. Some women held signs with a question in English: "Why the world is watching us silently and cruelly?"

In response, the Taliban have at times used force — wielding whips, beating women with batons, pointing guns and firing weapons into the air.

There are no women in the Taliban's newly named interim cabinet, and the new rulers lost no time in abolishing the country's Ministry of Women's Affairs.

"What a woman does, she cannot do the work of a ministry. You put something on her neck that she cannot carry," a Taliban spokesman told Afghanistan's TOLOnews.

On the streets, ads showing women's faces have been blacked out, and Taliban members erased street art and murals that had often conveyed public service messages.

The protests have continued despite a Taliban ban on demonstrations without government permission. Also, the Taliban have so far detained more than a dozen journalists covering the protests, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Some Afghan journalists have been severely beaten.

Here are some scenes from protests this month.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Taliban members try to stop the advance of protesters marching through Kabul's Dasht-e-Barchi neighborhood on Wednesday.
Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
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Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Taliban members try to stop the advance of protesters marching through Kabul's Dasht-e-Barchi neighborhood on Wednesday.
Afghan women take part in a protest march for their rights under the Taliban rule in Kabul on Sept. 3.
Hoshang Hashimi / AFP via Getty Images
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AFP via Getty Images
Afghan women take part in a protest march for their rights under Taliban rule in Kabul on Sept. 3.
Afghan women chant slogans in front of Taliban fighters during an anti-Pakistan demonstration near the Pakistani Embassy in Kabul on Tuesday. The Taliban fired shots into the air to disperse crowds.
Hoshang Hashimi / AFP via Getty Images
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AFP via Getty Images
Afghan women chant slogans in front of Taliban fighters during an anti-Pakistan demonstration near the Pakistani Embassy in Kabul on Tuesday. The Taliban fired shots into the air to disperse crowds.
A Taliban fighter stands guard as Afghan women take part in an anti-Pakistan protest in Kabul on Wednesday. At far right, a protester holds a sign with a photo of Banu Negar.
Hoshang Hashimi / AFP via Getty Images
/
AFP via Getty Images
A Taliban fighter stands guard as Afghan women take part in an anti-Pakistan protest in Kabul on Wednesday. At far right, a protester holds a sign with a photo of Banu Negar.
Afghans march toward the presidential building in Kabul in a protest against Pakistan on Tuesday.
Haroon Sabawoon / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
/
Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Afghans march toward the presidential building in Kabul in a protest against Pakistan on Tuesday.

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Hannah Bloch is lead digital editor on NPR's international desk, overseeing the work of NPR correspondents and freelance journalists around the world.